Translates into: "This thing is huge!!!!! It's way better than those little prop things I could have gotten assigned to. I wonder what kind of ramen noodles I should eat tonight? I hope there will be mainline jobs available in the future, anyway, I'll worry about that later. At least I'm not flight instructing!"

A-FREAKIN-MEN!

First question: anybody here know the meaning of "80 for 80"?

Second question: anybody know how many seats NWA's DC-9-10/15s had?

According to information available on APC....

A 2nd year Mesaba CR9 FO would earn 49% of a 2nd year DC-9 FO's hourly payrate at Northwest, while a 2nd year Compass E175 FO would earn 60% of the mainline hourly rate.

A 12th year Mesaba CR9 captain will earn 66% of a 12th year DC-9 captain's hourly rate at Northwest, while a 12th year Compass E175 CA (which does not exist) would earn 68.5% of the mainline hourly rate.

I know that the 900s are basically Avro replacements for Mesaba. I also know that I want my regional airline to grow and that likely won't happen without larger aircraft. Even knowing that, I cringe every time I see a 900 or E175...because I know that we (as regional pilots) are replacing mainline jobs, flying "RJs" the same size as former mainline planes, on mainline routes, for a mere fraction of mainline pay.

I agree with you. I find hard to believe that folks are rejoicing at a CRJ900 that is clearly replacing mainline flying...without even the paycheck to go with it. I'm sure the Northwest guys are absolutely thrilled to see this.

Ok so its obvious the regionals are going crazy with hiring due to growth apparently picking up mainline flying. So are the majors just not going to be doing much hiring due to some runs being given to regionals at half the labor cost? Or are the majors picking up stuff elsewhere?